It is very possible that when political scientists and pundits look back at the Florida governor's election of 2006, they will choose today as the beginning of the end for Democrat Jim Davis.
Davis, already off to a start so halting that it drew almost immediate news stories about it, today met with Freddie Pitts and Wilbert Lee to apologize for screwing them over in 1990 when he voted against compensating wrongly imprisoned men. "I made a mistake," the Tampa congressman said at a 1 p.m. news conference in Miami as he was flanked by both men.
So, Davis is off and running in an attempt to appeal to (mainly) white centrist voters by getting sucked into an old controversy that is all about race and has a high discomfort level for the very voters he is trying to reach. I'm not calling undecided voters racists; but face it, the folks that Davis needs to attract are not going to be turned on by Davis' late-to-the-table commitment to justice or the idea that it looks like he got arm-twisted into an apology by Congressman Alcee Hastings. For many of those voters, he is going to look weak and manipulated. I'm not saying he did the wrong thing by apologizing; but the timing stinks as he tries to get up a head of steam.
Did Charlie Crist kick off his general election campaign by holding a press conference with Christian Coalition members and say he made a mistake when he didn't oppose gay adoptions in his Republican primary? Why did Davis feel it necessary to halt any progress he made in winning his primary to reach back into an intraparty fight of little interest to most voters? Where were African-American voters going to go in November if Davis didn't issue his immediate apology? Vote Republican? Doubtful.
While Davis is forced to back up his campaign vehicle to take care of a lingering primary problem, Crist sails on. This is what happens when you let daily newspapers set the strategy for your campaign.
This article appears in Sep 6-12, 2006.